Today in History ^06/02/17

June 2, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Undated photograph of Mark Twain (© Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

(1897) Mark Twain is still very much alive

Accomplished man of American letters, and possessor of an impressively arid wit, Mark Twain recounts for the New York Journal a visit from a journalist who mistakenly believed the author might be deceased. “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” Twain tells the reporter.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the latter often called “The Great American Novel”.

Lived: Nov 30, 1835 – Apr 21, 1910 (age 74)
Height: 5′ 9″ (1.74 m)
Spouse: Olivia Langdon Clemens (m. 1870 – 1904)
Children: Langdon Clemens (Son) · Clara Clemens (Daughter) · Jean Clemens (Daughter) · Susy Clemens (Daughter)
Buried: Woodlawn Cemetery
Siblings: Orion Clemens (Brother) · Henry Clemens (Brother) · Benjamin Clemens (Brother) · Pamela Clemens (Sister) · Margaret Clemens (Sister) · Pleasant Clemens (Brother)
Highlights
1864: Twain moved to San Francisco in 1864, still as a journalist, and met writers such as Bret Harte and Artemus Ward.

1865: His humorous story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, was published in 1865, based on a story that he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California where he had spent some time as a miner.

1870: She rejected his first marriage proposal, but they were married in Elmira, New York in February 1870, where he courted her and managed to overcome her father’s initial reluctance.

1861: He had unsuccessfully attempted to secure the rights for The Prince and the Pauper in 1881, in conjunction with his Montreal trip.

1901: A subsequent article, “To My Missionary Critics” published in The North American Review in April 1901, unapologetically continues his attack, but with the focus shifted from Ament to his missionary superiors, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

1910: Twain’s prediction was accurate; he died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910 in Redding, Connecticut, one day after the comet’s closest approach to Earth.

wiki/Mark_Twain

Undated photograph of Luigi Galleani (Public Domain)

(1919) Anarchist bombs explode in eight US cities

Operatives of Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani detonate package bombs in eight cities, causing property destruction and two deaths. The future US president and his wife, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, narrowly escape a blast, having walked by a package moments before it detonated.

The 1919 United States anarchist bombings were a series of bombings and attempted bombings carried out by anarchist followers of Luigi Galleani from April through June 1919. These bombings led to the Red Scare of 1919–20.

wiki/1919_United_States_anarchist_bombings

Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey during her coronation on June 2, 1953 (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

(1953) A young queen is crowned in Westminster Abbey

In the first major event to be televised internationally, Elizabeth Windsor, 25, is crowned Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Sixteen months in preparation, the coronation hosts 8,000 guests to witness the ceremony from inside London’s Westminster Abbey, while millions across Europe watch on live TV.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth ascended the throne at the age of 25, upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was proclaimed queen by her various privy and executive councils shortly afterwards. The coronation took place more than a year later because of the tradition that holding such a festival is inappropriate during the period of mourning that follows the death of a monarch. During the service, she took and subscribed an oath to, among other things, govern the peoples according to their respective laws and customs, was anointed with holy oil, presented and invested with regalia, and crowned.

Date: Jun 02, 1953

wiki/Coronation_of_Queen_Elizabeth_II

Ken Jennings in the 'Jeopardy!' studio (© Jeopardy Productions via Getty Images)

(2004) Ken Jennings begins ‘Jeopardy!’ streak

Contestant Ken Jennings wins on ‘Jeopardy!,’ beginning a 74-game streak that will net him about $2.5 million. He will finally lose nearly six months later, with an incorrect response to the Final Jeopardy! answer, ‘Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.’

Kenneth Wayne “Ken” Jennings III is an American game show contestant and author. Jennings holds the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! and as being the second highest-earning contestant in game show history. In 2004, Jennings won 74 Jeopardy! games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg on his 75th appearance. His total earnings on Jeopardy! are $3,196,300, consisting of $2,520,700 over his 74 wins, a $2,000 second-place prize in his 75th appearance, a $500,000 second-place prize in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, a $100,000 win for second-place prize in the Jeopardy Battle of the Decades, as well as half of a $300,000 prize in the IBM Challenge, when he competed against Watson.

Born: May 23, 1974 (age 43) · Edmonds, WA
Net worth: $4 million USD (2017)
Spouse: Mindy Jennings
Education: Brigham Young University · University of Washington · Seoul Foreign School
Children: Dylan Jennings (Son)

wiki/Ken_Jennings

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Today in History ^05/26/17

May 26, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Execution of a woman accused of witchcraft in America, circa 1695 (© MPI/Getty Images)

(1647) Alse Young is the first American executed for witchcraft

Forty-five years before the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials, the first American colonist accused of witchcraft, Alse Young, is executed in the town square of Hartford, Connecticut. More executions will follow, as witchcraft would remain a capital crime in Connecticut until 1750.

Alse Young of Windsor, Connecticut — sometimes Achsah Young or Alice Young — was the first recorded instance of execution for witchcraft in the thirteen American colonies. Very little is recorded of Alse Young; her existence is only known through her reputation as a witch. She is believed to have been the wife of John Young, who bought a small parcel of land in Windsor in 1641, sold it in 1649, and then disappeared from the town records. She had a daughter, Alice Young Beamon, who would be accused of witchcraft in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts, some 30 years later. Like many similar cases of witchcraft, Alse Young was a woman without a son when the accusation was lodged, which implied that she would be eligible to receive through inheritance her husband’s estate.

Born: 1600
Died: May 26, 1647 · Hartford, CT
Romance: John Young
Parents: Achsah Young (Father)
Children: Alice Beamon (Young) (Daughter)

wiki/Alse_Young

Bram Stoker, author of 'Dracula' (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

(1897) Tale of a toothy Transylvanian arrives at booksellers

Irish author Bram Stoker’s novel of Gothic horror, ‘Dracula,’ is published in London. Readers are hooked by the bloodthirsty tale, and the story makes an ideal yarn for invasion literature fans, but the count’s allure will really take flight decades later with the advent of cinema.

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. It marks the initial appearance of the famous literary figure Count Dracula, establishing many modern notions of vampire lore. The novel tells the story of Dracula’s attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

Authors: Bram Stoker · Tim Wynne-Jones
First published: May 26, 1897
Number of pages: 239
Characters: Count Dracula · Abraham Van Helsing · Lucy Westenra · Jonathan Harker · Renfield · Quincey Morris · Dr. Joan Seward · Arthur Holmwood
Adaptations: Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) · Dracula Untold (2014) · Dracula (1931) · Nosferatu (1922) · Horror of Dracula (1958) · Dracula 2000 (2000) · Dracula 3D (2012) · Dracula (1979) · Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) · Dracula (2006) · Count Dracula (1970) · Dracula’s Daughter (1936) · Count Dracula (1977) · Dracula · Blacula (1972)
Genres: Gothic fiction · Horror

wiki/Dracula

Evel Knievel attempts to straighten his front tire just before crashing on May 26, 1975 at Wembley Stadium in London. (© Express/Getty Images)

(1975) Evel Knievel crashes at Wembley

Before a crowd of 70,000, daredevil Evel Knievel attempts to jump his motorcycle over 13 buses at London’s Wembley Stadium. As he lands, he’s thrown onto the concrete, sustaining multiple serious injuries. Hobbling back up onto the launch ramp, Knievel tells the crowd, ‘I will never, ever, ever jump again. I’m through.’ Six months later, he will indeed jump again.

Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel Jr. (October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007) was an American stunt performer. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps; in 1974, he failed an attempted canyon jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket.

Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida in 2007, aged 69.

After the Snake River jump, Knievel returned to motorcycle jumping with ABC’s Wide World of Sports televising several jumps. On May 26, 1975, in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium in London, Knievel crashed while trying to land a jump over 13 redundant single-deck AEC Merlin buses (the term “London Buses” used in earlier publicity had led to the belief that the attempt was to be made over the higher and more traditional AEC Routemaster double-decker type).

After the crash, despite breaking his pelvis, Knievel addressed the audience and announced his retirement by stating, “Ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful country, I’ve got to tell you that you are the last people in the world who will ever see me jump. Because I will never, ever, ever jump again. I’m through.” Near shock and not yielding to Frank Gifford’s (of ABC’s Wide World of Sports) plea to use a stretcher, Knievel walked off the Wembley pitch stating, “I came in walking, I went out walking!”

wiki/Eval_Kneavel

National Sorry Day in 2007 (© Jacky Ghossein/The Sydney Morning Herald/Fairfax Media/Getty Images)

(1998) Australia holds its first National Sorry Day

Australia observes National Sorry Day, a remembrance of government wrongs committed towards indigenous peoples. Especially important is recognition of ‘The Stolen Generations’ policies that took Aboriginal children from their parents and adopted them out to white Australian families.

National Sorry Day is an annual event that has been held in Australia on 26 May, since 1998, to remember and commemorate the mistreatment of the country’s Indigenous population. During the 20th century, Australian governments’ policies resulted in a “Stolen Generation” – described by John Torpey as “Aboriginal children separated, often forcibly, from their families in the interest of turning them into white Australians”.
wiki/National_Sorry_Day

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Today in History ^04/19/17

April 19, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Color postcard of a scene from the Battle of Lexington, the first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts, April 19, 1775 (© Archive Photos/Getty Images)

(1775) American Revolutionary War begins

Thirteen colonies enter the bloody struggle to break free from the crown, as British troops arrive in Lexington, Massachusetts, intent on seizing the patriots’ weapons and imprisoning its leaders. Shots are exchanged, eight Americans die, and the war for independence is on.

The American Revolutionary War, also referred to as the American War of Independence and as the Revolutionary War in the United States, was an armed conflict between Great Britain and those thirteen of its North American colonies which after the onset of the war declared independence as the United States of America.

Start date: Apr 19, 1775
End date: Sep 03, 1783

wiki/American_Revolutionary_War

Boston Marathon finish line, April 19, 1910 (Public domain)

(1897) First running of the Boston Marathon

Inspired by the revival of the Olympic Games the year before and the invention there of the marathon running race, the Boston Athletic Association puts on its own footrace. Fifteen runners take off from the starting line, and 10 finish the 24.5-mile hilly route in Boston’s first marathon.

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by several cities in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is always held on Patriots’ Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, inspired by the success of the first marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world’s best-known road racing events. It is one of six World Marathon Majors, and is one of five major events held in the United States through the years of both World Wars.

First occurred: Apr 19, 1897

wiki/Boston_Marathon

A Jewish man is stopped in April 1943 by German soldiers after the rising of the ghetto of Warsaw during WWII (© AFP/Getty Images)

(1943) Jewish resistance fighters battle in Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Hundreds of thousands of Jews have been packed by Nazis inside the Warsaw Ghetto, a 1.3-square-mile sector in Poland’s capital. Thousands have already died of disease and starvation, but today many fight back when Germans attempt to ship off the ghetto’s survivors to concentration camps.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany’s final effort to transport the remaining Ghetto population to Treblinka. The uprising started on 19 April when the Ghetto refused to surrender to the police commander SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop, who then ordered the burning of the Ghetto, block by block, ending on 16 May. A total of 13,000 Jews died, about half of them burnt alive or suffocated. German casualties are not known, but were not more than 300. It was the largest single revolt by Jews during World War II.

Start date: Apr 19, 1943
End date: May 16, 1943

wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising

The north side of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, seen after a bomb exploded on April 19, 1995 (© AP)

(1995) Oklahoma City bombing destroys federal building, kills 168

An enormous blast tears through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, causing massive damage and casualties. One hundred sixty-eight will die, and upwards of 700 are injured after Timothy McVeigh detonates a homemade truck bomb.

The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Downtown, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States on April 19, 1995. Carried out by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the bombing destroyed one-third of the building, killed 168 people, and injured more than 680 others. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius, shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, and destroyed or burned 86 cars, causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage. Extensive rescue efforts were undertaken by local, state, federal, and worldwide agencies in the wake of the bombing, and substantial donations were received from across the country. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated eleven of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces, consisting of 665 rescue workers who assisted in rescue and recovery operations. This was the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil until the September 11 attacks six years later, and it still remains as the deadliest domestic terrorism incident in United States history.

Within 90 minutes of the explosion, McVeigh was stopped by Oklahoma Highway Patrolman Charlie Hanger for driving without a license plate and arrested for illegal weapons possession. Forensic evidence quickly linked McVeigh and Nichols to the attack; Nichols was arrested, and within days, both were charged. Michael and Lori Fortier were later identified as accomplices. McVeigh, who was a U.S. militia movement sympathizer and a veteran in the Gulf War, had detonated a Ryder rental truck full of explosives parked in front of the building. His co-conspirator, Nichols, had assisted in the bomb preparation. Motivated by his dislike for the U.S. federal government and angry about its handling of the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992 and the Waco Siege in 1993, McVeigh timed his attack to coincide with the second anniversary of the deadly fire that ended the siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

The official investigation, known as “OKBOMB”, saw FBI agents conduct 28,000 interviews, amass 3.5 short tons (3.2 tonnes) of evidence, and collect nearly one billion pieces of information. The bombers were tried and convicted in 1997. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001, and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison in 2004. Michael and Lori Fortier testified against McVeigh and Nichols; Michael was sentenced to 12 years in prison for failing to warn the United States government, and Lori received immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony.

As a result of the bombing, the U.S. Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which tightened the standards for habeas corpus in the United States, as well as legislation designed to increase the protection around federal buildings to deter future terrorist attacks. On April 19, 2000, the Oklahoma City National Memorial was dedicated on the site of the Murrah Federal Building, commemorating the victims of the bombing. Annual remembrance services are held at the same time of day as the explosion occurred.

Date: Apr 19, 1995
Fatalities: 168

wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing

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Today in History

July 2, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(1839) Africans escape their chains and commandeer a slave ship
	Led by Sengbe Pieh, 53 Africans stage a revolt and capture their transport, the slave ship Amistad, 20 miles off the coast of Cuba. Pieh, also known as Joseph Cinqué, will later stand trial in front of the US Supreme Court where he will successfully petition for his and his fellow captives’ freedom..
(1881) Assassin’s bullets hit new American president
With a small entourage including Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln, President James Garfield waits to catch a train in Washington, DC, when Charles Guiteau shoots him twice in the back at point-blank range. America’s 20th president will die more than two months later. .
(1897) Wireless telegraphy advances into radio with Marconi’s help
	Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi, age 23, is awarded a patent in London for a new form of wireless telegraphy, bringing ‘Improvements in Transmitting Electrical impulses and Signals and in Apparatus therefor.’ Marconi’s device will become known by its more common name, the radio. .
(1964) Landmark US Civil Rights Act becomes law
President Lyndon Johnson signs a culmination of centuries of activism and struggle, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in a televised ceremony at the White House. The new law bars racial segregation in public places, and discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin..

A Historical Day

June 2, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(1897) Mark Twain is still very much alive
	Accomplished man of American letters, and possessor of an impressively arid wit, Mark Twain recounts for the New York Journal a visit from a journalist who mistakenly believed the author might be deceased. “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” Twain tells the reporter. .
(1919) Anarchist bombs explode in eight US cities
Operatives of Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani detonate package bombs in eight cities, causing property destruction and two deaths. The future US president and his wife, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, narrowly escape a blast, having walked by a package moments before it detonated. .
(1953) A young queen is crowned in Westminster Abbey
	In the first major event to be televised internationally, Elizabeth Windsor, 25, is crowned Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Sixteen months in preparation, the coronation hosts 8,000 guests to witness the ceremony from inside London’s Westminster Abbey, while millions across Europe watch on live TV..
(1962) ‘The Battle of Santiago’ is fought on a football pitch
In what would later be described by a BBC sportscaster as ‘the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game,’ the World Cup Group 2 match between Chile and Italy is marred by vicious fighting between the players. .